Harsh Beginnings
by Foton Soul
Summary: Shadow of Yuma universe. Luka Mazaki never trusted anybody, not even her own family. All of that changed the day she met one particular boy.


**Ah, the idea for this little fic came into my mind today, so I wrote this as fast as I could! So, I'll be explaining how two of my characters from my stories (("The Shadow of Yuma" and "Escape from the Shadows")), Kurai and Luka first met. There may be a hint of a pairing here, so look out! ;) Be sure to be prepared for a hidden character! Hint: New Disney character! **

* * *

A little green-haired girl quietly drew on paper with crayons in her room. She scribbled many various items surrounding her despite not much light in her room. It was dimly lit, along with most of her home. Some homes around her hometown, Darkland City, were poor and rundown. The girl and her family were one of the normal families: They were not too rich, or poor, only like the average, well-fed family. Her clothes showed her status. She absolutely refused to wear skirts or dresses, so she chose adventurous and boyish clothing. Her hair was somewhat messy and her eyes were a lovely shade of orange.

She had a very cute face for a little girl, but it was tainted. Bruises and cuts were on parts of her face.

Just like on her drawing, her self portrait was covered with bruise spots and cut lines. Two taller people loomed above her. One with a skirt-like feature held a cigarette, while the one in a tie drank from a green bottle. What she was really drawing was herself, her mother, and her father. The girl always thought that her mom and dad were very loving too, but she was wrong.

"LUKA! GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE, NOW!" boomed a male voice.

The girl cringed, set down her crayon and reluctantly walked down the stairs of her home. She could see an older man, circling around the room. In his hands was a green glass bottle, which the girl knew was not good at all. Whenever he had that bottle, something bad would happen, especially since hewas drunk.

Knowing her dad was drunk, the greenette nervously twiddled with her fingers, squeaking, "Daddy?..."

The father turned around quickly, taking a swig from his beer bottle. His eyes were full of fury and hate, and his breath smelled like liquor. A look resembling one who didn't get much sleep formed on his face, along with disapproval.

"Damn it, Luka, I lost my friggin' job today, and its YOUR fault!" He screeched, pointing at the child. "Why are you always making me and your mom suffer so much?! I f-ing hate you!"

Luka, the said child, cringed in fear. Small tears started to fall from her face, and hurt fell upon her. "Daddy... I didn't even do anything! Why are you-?!"

SLAP!

The alcohol was starting to take over his body and it was controlling his every move. He wouldn't care if he hurt his own daughter. He slurred, "This is your own damn fault Luka! YOU HEAR ME?! YOUR MOTHER AND I SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN RID OF YOU IN THE FIRST PLACE! ALL YOU EVER DO IS CRY LIKE A WIMP! YOU'RE USELESS AND I HAVE NO INTENTION FOR YOU! YOU ARE JUST A LOST CAUSE!"

Eventually. Luka's father then finished off rumbling with a few hard punches and kicks, leaving Luka curled into a ball, crying in a corner. A river of tears flowed from her eyes and she felt even more hurt than before. Above, Luka's father loomed, taking another swig of beer.

"That's what you get for being a worthless piece of shit. That is all you ever will be to me."

Feeling satisfied, the father drank more of his beer and departed the room in a drunken state.

Eventually, the mother came in, but she ignored Luka. All she ever did was nothing but smoke while her daughter was around. Unfortunately, Luka had to endure the smoke, although she hated the smell.

The mother glanced towards her daughter, smoking on a cigarette. A look of tiredness was on her face. She just simply shrugged at her daughter, stating, "Eh, what do I care? Your dad should be responsible for you, not me."

Both parents then scattered around the house and went to do their own thing. Luka, on the other hand, just sat curled in a ball and cried intensely. Many thoughts flooded the girl's mind, some full of worry, others full of hate. Her mind quickly snapped, and Luka's mind was no longer full of happiness, only hatred.

She clenched her fists tightly, wiped away her tears, and brushed the dirt off of her clothes. A look of hate and anger crept onto her face, one that was

"I hate them..."

* * *

It was raining very hard out in Darkland City and she had no place to get out of the rain. She couldn't force herself to go inside a public place because she didn't trust adults in her... Current state.

"Ugh, why does almost every place I see have adults?! I can't be around any... It's too much... Mommy and Daddy- No, the adults I trusted don't care about me!" snarled Luka, adjusting her bag in the rain. "If they don't want me, I don't care if they do the same!"

Luka continued to trudge through the rain without an umbrella, much to her annoyance. She passed many more buildings until she found herself in an area a little far away from adults. Not many people came down to this area in Darkland because there was still some construction going on downtown.

"Come on, there's gotta be someplace I can get out of the rain!" cried Luka, "think, Luka! Look around!" She scanned her surroundings and momentarily, her eyes spotted a close construction center. Bulldozers were scattered at the site along with circular pipe tubes and steel pipes. Luka's eyes widened at the pipe tubes. "Those are big enough for me to sleep in... It's not a bed, but its either that it I sleep on the street," she murmured, making her way into the construction center.

After trudging through the wet ground in the building site, Luka settled inside the pipe tube. She sat against a wall with her bag next to her. The ground was dry thanks to the pipe being circular. Rain just passed to the side and barely touched Luka. The girl brushed her hair out of her face, sighing heavily.

"What am I gonna do now? I can't go home because the grown ups at home don't care about me... Is this how I'm really going to grow up?" Luka sighed heavily in anguish, feeling very hopeless.

Tears formed under her eyes and began to swell. She didn't care if she was going to cry. She had to let out her feelings. Taking a deep breath, she screeched very loudly, it echoed through the circular tube. "IT'S NOT FAIR!"

* * *

Outside of Luka's "home", a spiky-haired boy grunted as he climbed up the circular pipes. The rain made it worse by making it a little slippery and he did not like that one bit. "When will this freaking rain ever stop?! I just broke out of a freaking mental home- no, hell! I am so getting back at the orphanage for sending me to that hell house!"

The boy continued to climb and climb until he finally reached the top. He pulled himself up and positioned himself against the wall. He panted heavily in relief. The rain had stained his clothes, which made him completely wet. He was also cold, much to his displeasure. He grabbed his arms and felt his body shake. "Dammit! I hate the f-ing rain! All it ever does is ruin my day! What's even worse is that I'm all alone..." moaned the boy.

Not too far away, the boy's ears picked up a sound, the sound of crying...

"Speak of the devil, is that what I think it is?!" shouted the boy in surprise as he looked around his surroundings. His eyes gave a cursory glance to find Luka opposite of him on the other side of the pipe. The boy studied the girl's appearance carefully, noting the green hair and boyish clothes. Why is that girl dresses like a boy? Isn't she supposed to be with the other girls, not be like us boys? What is she so upset about? Whatever it is, it looks really serious. She reminds me of when I was in the orphanage: Lonely all the time. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I should see if she's alright.

The boy quietly rose from his spot. He made a beeline to the girl and plopped himself next to her. He then carefully tapped her shoulder. Just to be on the safe side, the boy backed up a few inches away.

In response to the sudden touch, Luka shot up her head from her now tear-stained arms, only to make direct eye contact with the boy. Her eyes squinted as she looked at the boy. Her left hand clenched slightly, while the right held onto an action figure of some sort. "Who are you? You're not gonna take me some grown-ups, are you?" Luka stuttered nervously. She held her had with her figure in front of her face in nervousness. The action figure was a blonde-haired women clad in black-red armor, possessing an armor in a fashion similar to Halo soldiers. "If you come near me, I'll make Sergeant Calhoun shoot you!" She had her action figure position its gun pointing at the boy, hoping to scare him away. Her finger pressed against a switch on the toy's chest. In response, the toy 'spoke'.

"Fear is a four letter word, ladies. You want to go pee-pee in your big boy slacks, keep it to yourself!"

The boy refused to move from the "intimidation". He sat in front of the girl, crisscrossing his legs. He held up his hands. "I'm not gonna make you leave, girl. I can't stand the grown ups... All they ever do is make my life miserable!"

Luka cautiously made eye contact with the boy. She slowly lowered her Sergeant Calhoun figure and held it tightly in her hand. After looking at the boy, the tough girl set down her action figure. She casually positioned herself next to the boy. "You don't like the grown-ups too? I thought I was the only one. I hate my parents! All they ever do is smoke and drink beer! They don't care about me at all! Everything was fine until Dad, er the old man started to drink a lot more than usual. Things got worse when the old lady smoked too. They just ignored me all the time. I am never going back to them ever again!"

The boy was astonished by Luka's story. He truly felt sorry for the girl. Now he felt like he wasn't the only kid being an orphan. "Listen, girl, you're not alone. I used to live in an orphanage. I just wanted to have a family, but no one ever wanted me. One day, a pair of grown ups were interested in adopting me, I became so excited, I gave them a 'present': A cat skull. Instead, they rejected it, and me. They called me a freak... I hate it when people call me that name. I got so angry, I beat the crap out of them."

_He gave them a cat skull?!_ Luka thought. _Damn, why didn't I think of that before?!_

The devious boy continued his story. "The orphanage thought I was insane, so they send me away to this mental home-, no mental hell house, and I'm constantly monitored every, single, freaking second. I got out of that dump, but I can't tell you how I did it just yet. After I was free from that prison, I started stealing from people. One day, I took these Duel Monsters cards from a bigger boy. I put up a fight with this guy... He broke an important thing of mine..." He trailed off, digging into his pocket and revealed a shattered silver pendent. It resembled a line with three-dimensional triangles, complete with a green jewel in the center.

Luka suddenly felt really bad for the boy. She thought she was worse, but her sudden neighbor had a much harder life then her. "What did this asshole break?" She snarled.

The boy sadly stared at the pendent. "I was so angry at that bully, I-I-... I killed him... That bastard deserved it anyway! He broke my pendent and I wasn't going to let him get away with it! Those jerks following him quit pestering me,but I was still all alone, until I just ran into you."

Silence filled the air for a moment until Luka broke the quietness. "Give my your necklace."

"What?! Why?!" cried the boy, yanking his necklace.

Luka opened up her bag and whipped out a bottle of some sort. "I am serious, I am not going to break your necklace! Look, you need to man up and just let me use your necklace for a FREAKING MINUTE!"

"Alright, alright! Just don't break it anymore." The boy placed the pendent into the girl's hand, and she gladly accepted it.

Now that Luka had the necklace, she unwrapped the plastic wrapping around a gorilla glue bottle and carefully read the label on the instructions. One by one, she carefully worked with the boy's pendent as she worked with the bottle on the shattered pieces. Meanwhile, the boy nervously sat behind his fellow misfit child. Was she really going to do something good, or was it a trick? There was only one way to find out!

"It's done!" called Luka. She plastered a small smile on her face, her hands covered. "Listen up, close your eyes, and hold your hands out! Don't peek until I say so!"

The boy closed his eyes and reaching out his hands in command. "Okay, I'm waiting!"

Luka took advantage of time and carefully placed the boy's pendent into his hands. Once it was in place, she shouted, "Okay, you can open now!"

The boy slowly opened his eyes, expecting to find something in his hands. When he opened them, he did not expect to find a surprise in them. He gaped at the object in his hands. "No way... How did you-?! You fixed my Key..." The child carefully picked up his Key by the string and slowly swung it. The pieces did not fall off and everything remained secure. Not only was everything out back together, not one crack was to be seen. For the first time in the boy's life, he felt really grateful. He couldn't believe it, but he felt like he was going to cry, but with tears of joy.

Luka watched the boy's body expressions, ranging from rigid to slightly shaking. She was a little worried about the body movements. "Hey, are you okay?" She quietly asked."

"No one, and I mean it, has ever been this nice to me before... You fixed my pendent... Thank you..." The boy said quietly. "Will you be my friend? I want to be your friend."

Luka felt a wave of relief and happiness flow in her mind. For the first time, someone actually wanted to be her friend! "Yeah, come here, you! My name is Luka, and your welcome- Wait, what is your name?"

The boy mischievously smiled placing his newly repaired Key over his neck, "I'm Kurai Tsukumo."

* * *

**That concludes our story for today! Hope you guys liked it! :) Kurai and Luka are troubled children, until they meet each other. I just hope that this story clears up their first meeting. **

**he cameo character, Sergeant Calhoun belongs to Disney. **


End file.
